One of Alaska's greatest treasures is Denali National Park, home to Mt. McKinley. Alaskans call the mountain the Crown Jewell of America. The Athabaskan Indians named the mountain Denali, which means, "The High One". The name is fitting because at 20,300 ft. Denali is the highest peak in North America. The vertical rise of Mt. McKinley is 18,000 ft. This is greater than the vertical rise of Mt. Everest. Denali is truly the jewel of the Alaska Range.
Denali cast it's massive shadow over a 6 million acre national park the size of Massachusetts. The park was established in 1917 with the simple mission of protecting Alaska's wildlife and their habitat. Congress expanded and renamed Mt. McKinley National Park Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980. There have been numerous attempts to officially rename Mt. McKinley itself, but all efforts have failed.
Denali is home to all things wild in Alaska. The park boasts moose, a 300-member caribou herd, and a population of 250 wolves in 16 packs. There are also 250-300 grizzly bears, and of course dahl sheep.
Millions of people come to Denali to catch a view of the mountain, but most of them will never see it because it is under cloud cover nearly 75% of the time. If you see the mountain you are very fortunate. The mountain is very beautiful, but it is also deadly. Each year people lose their lives trying to reach the summit, but if you can do it you have a great sense of accomplishment |
